Ninfeo Mio

Probably my favorite scent. Perfect for a summer day: refreshing but not ephemeral or linear like many summer scents. Beautiful mix of green (primarily fig leaf), citrus (various bitter fruits), and creamy woodiness. Relaxing and uplifting, and surprisingly complex and multilayered. Sadly, Goutal is not currently distributing to Germany, and I'm hesitant to chance paying twice the list price for an Ebay bottle that might have been stored poorly, so I'm hoping they get back to usual business soon. There's really nothing else like it; there are plenty of good bitter citrus scents, sweet figs, and vegetal greens, but nothing that combines it all over a woody base like this one.

I’m so heartbroken by this scent. Based on the notes and the reviews I was expecting a green, fresh, creamy fig which is my favourite type of perfume. I blind bought this online and was so excited to try it out today. On first spray I got a blast of bitter citrus and powder. Like dirty powder, almost like a lemon that has molded and dried up, then someone squished it and it puffed out a bunch of the dry mold spores but it smelled lemony at the same time. I panicked but thought “ok but give it some time” …. After an hour I could only smell bitter powder, and definitely had an ammonia-like quality to it. Like an old dusty carpet that has been peed on. I wish I smelled what everyone else smelled. I LOVE fig leaf and citruses so I was really expecting to love this.

This dries down as sweet. I smell a mixture of fig and resin, so sweet and creamy. This is mixed so well, is very enjoyable to wear for daytime and all seasons.

TK Maxx by Tottenham Court Road is flooded with bottles of this at a very nice price at the moment, so I went for it. Pleasantly surprised! Citrus/ aromatic scents are not the types of perfumes I gravitate towards at all, but this has a great and very realistic scent of the fig tree (not the fruit). I have one in my garden and it was a real pick me up over summer to smell the sticky leaves and green branches. Fig trees have a wonderful creamy and floral nuance- Ninfeo Mio offers this in spades, alongside a pleasantly pungent lemon/ general citrus whack at the start. Recommended for those who like citrus, or even the kinds of neroli perfumes that lean fresh and aromatic.

I seem to have the uncanny habit to find perfect perfumes at amazing prices the moment I tell myself to stop buying perfume for a while. I think this is a love at first smell, and a sensational blind buy. For context, this summer I wore a lot of Issey Miyake A Scent, and Lancôme's O'de Lancôme where I accepted that the sharp, gluey dry down was simply something to accept if I wanted to wear the scent profile; I also wore quite a bit of Moschino Funny! , which is quite similar to Ninfeo Mio but felt a little too juicy and bubbly for work. Ninfeo Mio combines what I love about both these scents. The pleasant floral undertones of the mid points of A Scent and O'de Lancôme, with the fun and juicy orangey delight of Funny! all rounded off with a pleasant milky fig that tames it and adds a sensuality and milk lotion quality I adore. It feels like "me" like many of my favorite scents do. I've been considering if I would prefer a bottle of Sables by Goutal or Afternoon of Faun by Etat Libre for a while now, and this revelatory scent has made it far harder to decide! It's actually somewhat hilarious that the true retail of a bottle (£150) would typically cost just about what it cost me to purchase the 3 scents it reminds me of. This is a scent for life, welcome home.

This perfume opens up with sweet citruses and figs. Of course, citruses dissipate a little over time, and the green notes, along with the fig, stay. That residual citrus sweetness also lingers. Overall, it smells like a concoction of cut weeds, citrus and figs. I would say that this is the first time I don´t like sweetness in a perfume. I think without it, it would smell like a crisp and dewy Mediterranean garden. Even so, it´s good for everyday wear if you like that light sweetness.

This is my SOTD and I love it! On my this smells like a very green floral almost leaning fig! I love this on a hot day in summer. It’s a very unisex scent, I would love this on anyone! It lasts about 2 to 4 hours. In the dry down I get the citrus it almost explodes on my skin. Such a great summer scent but unfortunately I believe this is discontinued, of course another great scent gone 😏

The opening is beautiful but it quickly turns to yogurt and cat piss

Just got me a bottle of this perfume, as I'm getting a bit obsessed with this house, I'm buying them left and right. I recently bought Eau du Sud and loved loved that one. The one I am trying today, Ninfeo Mio, hmmm; what to say. I like it, the opening is zesty and yummy, but less original and herbal than Eau Du Sud , but N M really does not last, at all ! Maybe because I'm trying this in winter time and this is more of a spring/summer cologne type of fragrance, but even so, it is a perfume concentration, so it should last for a while, but alas it does not . Sad

One of the most beautiful fragrances I have smell, I always were curious about the fig notes i see on many perfumes and when i had the opportunity to get my hands on a decant of this i couldnt skip! This really captures that natural scent of fig leaves, its one of those perfumes who totally transport you to the first moment you were around this kind of threes, figs are very common in my city, people grow them on their homes so this one immediately brings me back some memories, this also have this bitter citrus peel scent that is just freaking delicious and natural!! its truly a beauty for me!! I cant wait to get me a bottle of this soon!! I would say that if you like citrus, herbal or tea like perfumes you are gonna love this i promise!!! The only cons i have is the longevity and projection, I could still reach for my wrist and smell the perfume after 2-3hrs but after that it was gone, I went very demure with it and only did 5 sprays but i still coudlnt really catch my smell that was a little bit sad, i dont want to run out of the decant but ill have to go a little bit harder and see if its better but none the less i want to get myself a bottle of this next year!!

This is my second bottle of Ninfeo Mio. I last bought it around 2010 and I'm delighted to say it hasn't changed a bit! In all this hot muggy weather I was craving something that cuts through the wilting heat. I re-tried Chanel's Cristalle (cool, mossy white flowers), Atelier des Ors' Blanc Polychrome (a hit of musky yet bright lemon and fig) but I was craving something keener and more reminiscent of the beautiful greens and yellows of this summer. Ninfeo Mio still hits the spot. The only gripe I have is the name - my mum asked what I was wearing - so I replied: 'Ninfeo Mio'. She laughed - 'What? Nympho maniac?!' A-a-nyway, I get the lovely references - to the garden of the Hesperides, the land of myth, the gardens of Ninfa in Rome that are filled with lemon trees. This wonderous perfume smells like you're rolling around in a bed of herbs - lemon verbena among them, also musky/bitter green leaves that remind some people of cat pee. It's not really like cat pee, if it was I'd not be able to wear this! This year I've been painting a series of paintings inspired by a mysterious clearing in a forest near me, in which I encountered the crumbling remains of a medieval friary, all overgrown with foliage, surrounded by ancient trees forming a canopy of green overhead. I wanted a perfume to make me think of that as I painted - that's why I re-bought Ninfeo Mio. Beautiful and unique!

A dirty green citrus / tomato plant however after a good few hours the tomato plant/citrus turns into a sweet caramel (toffee/coffee) to my nose, not sure if anyone else has experienced this. It is very faint sweetness after the green kick off. I am more of a Eau de Monsieur wearer but as an alternative this offers something very different - interesting IMHO.

Comments on the bottle that guys have mentioned below: you do realize the square ones are the original bottles for men for the line? If you want beautiful vintage Goutal bottles, get the vintage ladies bottles that are vertically ridged with the gold caps and the oval label hanging from a gold bow - however, usually the square bottles can be found for cheaper but same juice. Once Camille sold to Amore Pacific, the packaging design started changing - same bottles but updated labels, and then they went to the current bottles and the packaging says Goutal instead of Annick Goutal.

I love the smell of box (the plant), and this has the most gloriously true box note - snapped-pea, crushed-leaf, spicy a little like fresh bay laurel - together with sappy green fig and a ton of super-juicy lemon/citron type citrus. Some people perceive box as having an unpleasant cat pee odour, which is probably why a few commenters have found the scent quite urinous. I'm not one of those people, though, and happily waft this stuff through the hot summer months - it's my favourite citrus-plus. There's a milky-fig-leaf-sap element to the drydown that tips this towards the lactonic (in the broadest sense). I agree with Amour, Michele: this smells very natural, in a good way. Also: apparently 'box blight' is rampant in European box hedging at the moment; I've seen quite a few local box shrubs cut back or removed entirely. All the more reason to celebrate the beautiful scent of the healthy plant.

A creamy, more rounded Fico de Amalfi. One of the best blind buys I’ve done. (Frosted square bottle, I believe is the original)

If I didn't get a fake sample this smells like Neroli Portofino with a nutty base and some creamy aspects. I like it but not enough to get a full bottle. Fig is super bitter and raw here which is interesting.

As a person of Mediterranean origins, I find this scent to be very close to the experience of being in a field filled with fig trees. Actually, of all the fig/fig leaf scents I smelled(trust me, I smelled most of them. From Philosykos and Premier Figuier, to Wonderlust, Basilico & Fellini, and 195 a.C) it's the only one that truly transports me back home! I rarely liked fig scents because they mostly become too "milky", which is really not how figs/fig trees smell like; this one is different, it smells green, earthy and woody; very similar to how the tree/leaf smell like. This is a rather light scent; it projects for about one hour, then sits close to the skin. Big like.

A remark on Churil's remark here below, Goutal's modern bottle are the most beautiful bottles I have in my collection. The old rectangular bottles are just like cheap clone bottles of which there are plenty. Those were like test bottles of a nameless brand.

Not a review, just a comment. Things change, but the beautiful green colored, older ANNICK Goutal bottles of this fragrance hold so much allure to me whereas the rather sterile looking GOUTAL bottles leave me cold and less interested in trying what may be a gorgeous fragrance. It wouldn't stop me from trying, but I find it interesting to experience firsthand just how important packaging and presentation are in drawing my attention to a particular fragrance.

How i imagined crystal noir to smell like - coconutty fig, green juiciness and clean sweet touches

Citrus, milky and slightly bitter GREEN, woody. Great for summer.

It's a very fresh green citrus! From the scent of diptyque figs, the atmosphere is slightly green. If you are looking for a sweet fig, we recommend L'Artisan or Roger Gare. A scent that looks good from early summer to midsummer.

This is an ok citrusy, fresh green scent. Nothing groundbreaking, not exiting and flat. Not worth the price tag.

I'm completely obsessed with this scent! I've recently fallen deep in love with Annick Goutal (again) and Ninfeo Mio is an absolute stunner. It's so incredibly green so if you don't like green scents, don't even bother. It's citrusy and has a bitterness that you get from the thick white pulp of the fruit. There is lush greenness of vegetation, but it's not crushed or overly sappy that it becomes sickly. There's aromatic herbal elements, but most definitely fig leaf is the star of the show. The fig does lend a very slight milkiness that tames the bitterness and greenness. It all feels like you're smelling something that's carried in the wind of a sunny summery place. I can literally hear the green leaves rustling in the breeze and see the warm sun peeking through the trees. This immediately reminded me of Eau de Camille because of the verdancy but where as EDC is more ivy leaves and definitely cool, NM is more fig and like a shade in a sunny place. As you can tell, the effect is blended, soft, and incredibly natural. The sillage is quite good and pretty long lasting for a Goutal. There is a slight hint of sweatiness in the drydown that may come across to some as BO like or slightly like curry-spices. It's really a mild hint of it and I like it! A little bit of skank (I mean, this is hardly skank) is a good thing. This house is so masterful at making everything smell so natural. I know so many perfumes that are supposed to smell like the garden at this and that month or time of day, etc. But none of those really do - they inevitably smell like perfume. Annick Goutal is so good at evoking environments and a slice of time, I'm so enamoured, especially right now when I cannot travel much out of my environment. What a scent!

Goutal Ninfio Mio, is as green as they come! I don’t smell one flower in this just citrus and herbaceous notes. Definitely unisex but when I wear it I love (female) it! Right away it starts out green and leafy but once it settles on skin there is a creaminess to it. It’s almost sharp, but then evens out and gets creamy iI believe its the woody notes, I though it gives it a musky feel. I also get a fig mixed with dirt, but not in a bad way in a very good way. I will be wearing this a lot next month and into spring. Longevity is very good 4 to 8 hours especially on clothes. Sillage is also very good, leaves a trail behind you. If you like a clean figgy leafy scent this is it! Perfect for spring and summer day or night I will always have this in my collection!

I was so excited to receive my sample of this. I’m on a quest to find the most “plant-y, leafy” smelling perfume and was intrigued with this having the accents of citrus, etc. I sprayed it and got the citrus and beautiful “green” “viney” notes right away. As it started drying down, it smelled like play-doh and cat pee on my skin. I’ve noticed that I actually really enjoy it on my clothes because I don’t get those notes. I want to love this, but I just can’t bring myself to. If anyone has suggestions on “plant-y” “leafy” scents to check out please lmk! My favorite I’ve found so far is Dyptyque’s Eau de Lierre!

Ninfeo Mio seems to match the ambience of mid-August, with its summer balm persisting, but the days gradually getting shorter, with harbingers of autumn in view. It opens with the most radiant zest of citron, tinted with almost pointilistic details of bitter galbanum and petitgrain, giving this impression of pithiness. A ripening feel comes to the fore as mastic resin and fig leaves join this virescent, hesperidic chorus, a trembling light enters, and this reminds me of the angle of the sun in late summer, hitting the leaves and releasing their aromatic exudates. It's sort of like the sun-kissed smell of ivy leaves on a stone wall, in the afternoon, with the most subtle lactonic impression, like milkweed (has anyone ever smelled the flowers and the leaves? It's terrific). The dry down evolves from botanical green to tawny wood: a meditative cedar and a sensation reminiscent of wet stones and moss (not oakmoss mind you, just actually loamy moss). The naturalism is on point, as was the case for many Annick Goutals pre-formulation (I have a square bottle with the exquisite cursive script bottle). By far my favorite fig scent and one that I will relish.

I actually lost the little name tag for this bottle so for the longest time, I had this nameless Annick Goutal that I had almost completely finished off, and I had no idea which fragrance I’d loved enough to drain dry. Finally, after a bit of Amazon sleuthing and sniffing notes off Fragrantica, I figured out what it was. Ninfeo Mio is the scent of summer for me. It became an incredibly easy fragrance to spray on right as I was going out the door, to add a blast of lemon and bitter orange to kick off my day before settling into the fig leaf for the next few hours. I’m actually mildly obsessed with fig fragrances - be it the fruit or the leaf - and my strongest association with this fragrance is that wonderful sweet and green fig. I find Ninfeo Mio to be really easy to wear - it’s never challenging, always cheerful, and always settles into my skin and clothes like this wonderful, gorgeous, slightly sweaty aura of sticky and radiant summer skin. I also appreciate catching whiffs of the scent on my clothes for days afterwards. As with most citrusy fragrances, however, it never lasts more than a few hours and is usually gone by the early afternoon. I don’t know if I’ll repurchase it any time soon once I finish the bottle, since there are so many other scents out in the world I want to try (and, for my money, Diptyque’s Philosykos is my favorite fig hands down) - but I’m so glad I had Ninfeo Mio with me when I did. Thank you for 3 summers of radiant good humor.

Johnson's baby slap with a start of mastic, Buddha's hand, and lemon peel reminiscent of sweet crème preparations. Even woody notes and light synths that push the composition. Rounded, with a beautiful fresh fig leaf and mastic laid with care and cedar,lavender, galbanum, bitter oranges, petitgrain, elegant and pleasant. This brand usually softens the edges of citrus fruits in a unique way, a classic, soft, clean and loose thread. Simple,light, versatile, four seasons and unisex. Not a novelty but pleasant and comfortable.

Lemon & cedar. Summer wear